Front Porch Musings from NY

Mentality

New York City brings together a diversity in spoken language, skin hues, and culture. But there is one thing most New Yorkers share, a manufactured obliviousness to other people.

It is interesting to witness a person fain ignorance to your presence as you pass them on the sidewalk, even when the two of you are the only two people within eyeshot... in any direction... in a residential area. The possibility of a person not noticing another enter within three feet of him/herself is infinitesimally small, even if he/she happens to have the triple handicap of being deaf, blind, and stupid. But then take the scenario a step further. If you issue a friendly, "Hello," or "Good Morning" to this stranger, there is a hitch in their response, as if you have wrenched them back from the recesses of their inner-mind where perhaps they were tirelessly calculating the the value of their own self-importance,... or perhaps they're just surprised that someone broke the code of silence.

"Huh, whaaa.... Oh, Hi."

Aggressiveness

New Yorkers are notoriously aggressive, whether it be the in-your-face style of ordering at the corner sandwich shop or driving on the expressways, a fact that makes my blood boil every time I enter the expressway or order a turkey sandwich. But you don't appreciate the full extent of NY aggression until you've nearly been run over by two octogenarians pushing shopping carts in the dairy aisle.

Diversity

It is entertaining to walk into the local deli and observe the variety of "english" accents co-mingling. Bronx, Jersey, thick Irish, Indian, Spanish, etc. - all equally foreign to a born Midwesterner, but a pleasant change from the ethnic uniformity of Montana where diversity is measured in shades of white and Republican red.

Summer's End

You don't need to eyeball the calendar to know that summer has turned a corner. You can sense the trees beginning to withdraw, sequestering sugars back to their roots, readying themselves for a long winter. An event that is punctuated by a fanfare of color.

Gone is the heat and humidity that saps any motivation and makes sleeping an impossibility. The days are comfortable and the nights crisp.

Kids disappear from the playgrounds and teens no longer loiter in the streets and malls. School is starting, a sure sign that fall is near.

Fall, my favorite time of year.